Saimoe Tournament 2010

Saimoe 2010 is now underway with the nomination stage over and the first preliminaries in progress. Just like in past years, I’ll be covering the tourney with the sidebar tracker, overview posts and provide my own picks, predictions and some comments. Match posters and charts will be archived. For the uninitiated, the annual Saimoe (最萌) tournament hosted by 2ch is a single-elimination tournament to determine the most moe female character over the past year. Due to the subjectivity of moe and a lot of strategic maneuvering by devotees, there are usually many upsets. Fervent support, despair and delicious cardboard await us for the next three and a half months.

Last year’s winner was Toradora!‘s Aisaka Taiga. The palmtop tiger isn’t around to defend her title this year, but there’s plenty of big name series back, such as K-ON!, Hayate, Haruhi, Nanoha, Saki and Higurashi. In addition, there’s fresh faces from new popular series, highlighted by Bakemonogatari, Angel Beats, Seitokai no Ichizon, Working! and Railgun. Remember that the crowning of a winner isn’t the most important thing, it’s supporting your favorite characters, gathering moe pictures and finding out about other series and characters. Have fun!

Most noticeably, there is one less round in the main draw. This is due to the first round being 4-way matches, while the second round and block finals will be 3-way. From quarterfinals on, matches will be 1-on-1. This probably favors popular series, but split votes might come into play.

As usual, I’ll be voting for what I personally view as moe. With Yutaka and Mei out of the picture, Azunyan takes the top spot this time around. I’ll be supporting the following:

Yui (Angel Beats!)

Sengoku Nadeko (Bakemonogatari)

Katsura Hinagiku (Hayate no Gotoku!!)

Nishizawa Ayumu (Hayate no Gotoku!!)

Sanzen’in Nagi (Hayate no Gotoku!!)

Yuno (Hidamari Sketch)

Ryuuguu Rena (Higurashi no Naku Koro ni)

Nakamachi Kana (Kanamemo)

Suminoe Ako (kiss x sis)

Hirasawa Yui (K-ON!!)

Nakano Azusa (K-ON!!)

Nogizaka Mika (Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu)

Amae Koromo (Saki)

Kataoka Yuuki (Saki)

Sakurano Kurimu (Seitokai no Ichizon)

Shiina Mafuyu (Seitokai no Ichizon)

Hinari (Shin Koihime Musou)

Shuri (Shin Koihime Musou)

Taneshima Poplar (Working!!)

Who do you think will be the ones to beat this year?
Who will you be supporting?